BMW hasn't forgotten either, and according to Reuters (via Motor Authority), German weekly business magazine Wirtschaftswoche has reported that the German maker intends to join forces with General Motors to help develop the future of fuel cell technology.

Wirtschaftswoche says the talks are at an advanced stage and close to signing a cooperation agreement. GM has declined to comment, but BMW has confirmed that talks on future technologies are taking place.

Fuel cell vehicles offer several advantages over regular electric cars, such as ease of refuelling with liquid hydrogen in a matter of minutes, and much greater range thanks to the greater energy density of hydrogen.

The technology does have several minus points though too. The hydrogen refuelling network is currently very poor and significantly more expensive to set up than an electric car network. Refuelling at home is also much less viable and producing the quantities of hydrogen required for a fuelling network is particularly energy inefficient. One thing is for sure - the technology certainly needs more work before it's ready.

At this early stage there's little indication of what cars the partnership might result in, but it shows that hydrogen isn't completely out of sight and out of mind just yet.